1. Field of the Invention
In one aspect this invention relates to military vehicle protection devices. In yet a further aspect, this invention relates to a device mountable on a vehicle to remove wires or cables from a vehicles path.
2. Prior Art
Military vehicles come in various sizes and configurations. In addition they operate under a wide variety of environments. Enemy forces frequently will string wire or thin wire rope across a trail or road to disable a vehicle or place a wire in a position which will contact and disable a driver when the vehicle is traversing a path.
In order to protect the driver and passengers a means for disabling the wire booby traps is required in hostile environments. Various structures have been used one example being placing an upright bar at the front of the vehicle with an arm at the upper end which points away from the vehicle in the direction of vehicle travel to keep the wire from sliding over the top of the bar and to try and break the wire. Such a device where the force of the wire against the vehicle is essentially normal to the upright bar results in a large normal force being applied to the upright bar. The vehicle momentum is generally sufficient to break most wires but the bar is subjected to a substantial shock force which in turn will create a large breaking force on the mounting bracketry attaching the bar to the vehicle. Also, generally each device will be designed to fit one vehicle and functions haphazardly. It would be desirable to have a protection kit which could be adapted to a variety of vehicles and has improved wire cutting and disabling structure. The kit should be strong, simple, fit a variety of vehicles and be readily installed using the simple tools normally available to a soldier under combat conditions. It is further desired that the device provide the ability to sever most wires without subjecting the cutter and vehicle to shock loading to improve the service life of the device and its mounting hardware.